The African Union (AU) has finally woken up to the realisation that we are headed to another officially recognised genocide in Burundi if nothing gets done. Pending the backing of the United Nations’ Security Council, the AU has just voted overwhelmingly to deploy peace keepers in Burundi whether President Nkurunzinza’s government agrees with it or not.
‘We won’t let another genocide take place in Africa’, the statement read. You can be sure that many nations would go up in arms if anyone suggested that there has not been any other genocide on the continent except for the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Nevertheless, the realisation that no more blood should be shed in the case of Burundi is not only commendable; it rockets us into unchartered territory:
- That no one can use self-determination to discriminate, corrupt and worse kill on Hitler’s scale and
- That common principles of human dignity, development and governance must be outlined, agreed upon, adhered to and if necessary imposed upon.
It however begs the question about ‘when should the AU have started flexing their muscle?’ We would argue that this late awakening, however necessary, is a piecemeal intervention that should have begun earlier within a broader understanding of what African democracy should be about.
swipel 